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Review: Rise with 'The Golden Son'

The Golden Son is one of those books with endearing characters that compel you to keep reading. A story about the village boy who traverses halfway across the world to pursue his dreams to become a doctor is so much more. You feel as if going abroad would transform him into a pompous, arrogant brat. But this story isn’t titled ‘The Golden Son’ for no reason.

We begin Anil’s story in a village in Gujarat, briefly giving a glimpse into his simple life, raised under the most respected family, expected to become the village patriarch after his father. His story is conjoined with that of his childhood friend, Leena, the daughter of a farmer. Eventually, as both Anil and Leena trod into the intimidating world of adulthood, their paths diverge. Anil, the soft-spoken, shy and ambitious son of a family in rural Gujarat, decides to embark into the opportunistic land of the United States to become a doctor. His childhood friend Leena, nurturing yet resilient, stays back in India, and enters the unfamiliar territories of marriage consisting of a new house, a new family, and a husband. Everything seems to be going just about fine, especially on Anil's end. However, Leena doesn't strike with as much luck with her new family. Leena's struggles to live up to her new family's expectations as the ideal homemaker, are painful. Efforts to make perfectly round rotis and cook rice becomes the least bit of her worries as her supposedly "good family" chases her down for more dowry money. Your heart breaks as she is forced to flee from her home.

Both Leena and Anil come across various experiences, challenges, and mistakes that must be rectified. Their stories are told from different perspectives, blending in multiple narratives, which make the book a fascinating read! The intricate details and description with which Gowda takes us through each character’s personal tale has us hooked. However, Leena’s half is much more painful, in comparison to that of Anil. The feminist in me began to fume up a bit, seeing how Anil’s story is much more progressive and relatively easier, than Leena’s painstaking story of being a married woman in a patriarchal setting. This might just be a character bias.

And perhaps this is the only part of the book where I felt that injustice was done to the female character, even with the way her story ends without much closure (apologies if this is too much of a spoiler). It also tends to drag on a little too much, focusing on irrelevant details, when you’re just about ready for justice to be served already. However, the honesty and sincerity with which Anil tries to set things right is heartwarming.

Although I didn't sympathize with Anil's character too much, there are parts of his story that grabbed me as well. Being a foreign returned Indian as well, I could relate as he grapples to identify with differing cultures. It is more so in how he fulfills his duty as the "Golden Son," appropriately titled, in which he finds peace of mind.

A story of identity, belonging, love, and family are woven gracefully together through the craft of Gowda’s writing. Each character becomes a part of you, as you latch yourself onto their stories, listening, feeling, and never wanting to let go.